Great Lakes Bathymetry

Access Data

NOAA was engaged in a program to compile Great Lakes bathymetric data and make them readily available to the public, especially to the communities concerned with Great Lakes science, pollution, coastal erosion, response to climate changes, threats to lake ecosystems, and health of the fishing industry. This program was managed by NCEI and relied on the cooperation of NOAA/Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, NOAA/National Ocean Service, the Canadian Hydrographic Service, other agencies, and academic laboratories.

Compilation of new bathymetry for the Great Lakes was an important part of this program, carried out cooperatively between NOAA (NCEI and GLERL), and the Canadian Hydrographic Service. This new bathymetry provided a more detailed portrayal of lakefloor topography, and revealed some lakefloor features seen for the first time.

* A draft version of the Lake Superior Bathymetry was compiled as a component of a NOAA project to rescue Great Lakes lake floor geological and geophysical data, and make it more accessible to the public. No time frame has been set for completing bathymetric contours of Lake Superior, though a
3 arc-second (~90 meter cell size) grid is available.